cases just coming in this morning. ohio, spent a good part of the night in the too close to call category. around 12:30 eastern time this morning, nbc news called romney the apparent winner. in a one-point close shave over santorum. romney sweated this one out before winning ohio, apparently, by just 12,000 votes. despite outspending his rivals 4-1 in that state with his super pac leading the way. just before 4:00 a.m. eastern time, about 90 minutes ago, nbc news declared romney the projected winner in alaska. he won big in the idaho caucuses. he took massachusetts where he serve as governor and also neighboring vermont. romney is as expected was the big winner in virginia where newt gingrich and rick santorum did not make it on to the ballot. ron paul did pick up 40% of vote in virginia. turnout underwhelming, just under 5% of registered voters went to the polls, that is the

lowest ever for a presidential primary in the state of virginia. aside from his near win in ohio, santorum countered with primary victories in oklahoma and ten. . he also won the north dakota caucuses underscoring his command of the conservative vote in deep republican territory. newt gingrich chalked up a win last night, cruising to victory with 47% support in his home state of georgia. the former house speaker vowing to fight on with primaries next week in alabama and mississippi where he says he expects to win. in all, mitt romney picked up at least 204 delegates last night, nearly half the total number that was at stake. gingrich added 75. 1,1245 delegates are needed to claim the party's nomination. as you can see there, we're a long way from that. a look at last night's exit polling show's the candidates strengths and weaknesses, particularly in ohio, a bellwether state for the general election. 51% of ohio republicans said mitt romney had the best chance of beating president obama in

november, 24% said it was santorum. the economy a top concern, 26% said the deficit was the top issue. voters with an economic focus backed romney by an eight-point margin over santorum. gingrich won 18% of voters who said the economy was number one. ron paul in single digits. romney struggled in some areas. nearly 40% of ohio republicans saying romney not conservative enough. santorum led the way in that demographic as the most conservative. as well as with evangelicals, 47% of whom backed santorum. this all in the state of ohio. relidgeth, an important factor in tennessee's primaries where 43% said it mattered a great deal that the candidate shared their beliefs. those voters went to rick santorum by a margin of 3-1. santorum's win in tennessee was critical, helping to offset romney's charge. it was a convincing win by

santorum in tennessee, a state that romney thought he might be able to win. santorum winning tennessee by nine points. joining us on the phone, msnbc and "time" magazine senior political analyst mark halperin. he's the co-author of the book "game change." good morning. >> only reason i've agreed to join you, you share my beliefs and that's important to me. >> there you go. 68% of ohio voters said the same thing. mitt romney gets more than delegates and yet most analysts, pundits are saying you hear a lot of asterisks. of course he won massachusetts and vermont, that's his territory. he was one of only two people on the ballot in virginia, idaho, the second most mormons in all of the country. can't he get a clean victory without everybody putting an asterisk to it. >> there's an old saying in politics, the only asterisk is the one that matters on election

day. he's the most likely nominee by far and he still is. three reasons people are saying this is not a clean win even though he got about half the delegates. the first biggest potential is ohio. apparent winner. 12,000 votes is a lot. as we've seen in florida recount in 2,000, most prominent thely. we have to make sure this is the actual count, that some county didn't double count votes or computer error. the second asterisk is the upcoming calendar, the contest for the rest of this month are not very good for mitt romney. particularly in kansas and missouri and mississippi and alabama. those will be tough contests for him, whether gingrich leaves the race or not. finally, the exit poll, show that romney still has weakness within the republican party and certainly within the broader electorate. people are still looking to see him do what other past front-runners have done, grow stronger rather than struggle to wipe out the field. >> mark, is there a chance,

based on what you said there, that ohio could flip? 12,000 votes is a slim margin in a state that size. we've still called it the apparent winner. we're not ready to say he's absolutely the winner. do you see based on what you're hearing and where the votes are coming in from that ohio could in fact change over to santorum? >> it could. in every election, most of us didn't focus on this before the florida recount. there are irregularities. normally they're errors rernlg than wrong doing . there's a reason we say apparent winner. that would be a huge development if it flipped. even if it doesn't flip, as i say, romney has to prove himself in these contests coming up. he'll certainly leave march with the most delegates. the question is, if he goes 0 for the next four, or 1 for the next five, he'll probably win in hawaii, what then? what does that do to his sense

of inevitability and momentum and his proving to people that he can put santorum and gingrich away? >> if you look at mitt romney's struggles in the south, particularly tennessee last night, a state that looked like it could have gone either way, santorum wins by nine points, heavy revan gel cal voters in the south, what does that tell you about mitt romney's struggles going forward and what he'll have to face in the general election? >> i think in the general election he'll be able to unite the party and win those southern states that have been solid for the republicans of late. the challenge for him is, again, upcoming, not just mississippi and alabama but also louisiana. he's going to have trouble winning those states. if newt gingrich gets out, i don't expect him to right now, it would be more problematic. one of the things that struck me, santorum was able to win both oklahoma and tennessee, even though gingrich got a quarter of the votes. imagine if gingrich gets out of the race and most of the

southern vote that gingrich is getting goes to santorum. again, that would expose weakness for romney and certainly allow santorum to have a base in the south to pick up more delegates. >> your point good gingrich is one the santorum side already made. a santorum strategist argues their key to inwithing the nomination is consolidating the conservative vote and facing romney on a one-on-one race. they argue they would have won ohio had gingrich not been in the race. any chance he could be convinced to get out for the better chances of the conservative part of the republican party? >> i don't think so right now. the one-on-one thing is a big deal. we had a test of that where ron paul and only romney were on the ballot. ron paul did very, very well. i think if gingrich is wiped out in these upcoming four states, kansas, missouri, bam billion

and mi -- alabama and mississippi, he might get out. >> bottom line, this thing is not ending any time soon. i want to ask you what was happening as the republican field was focusing on super tuesday. president obama, his first news conference at the white house. the real heat, coming from his comments on foreign policy. talking about iran, the president went after republican candidates for their talk of waging war. listen. >> what's said on the campaign trail, those folks don't have a lot of responsibilities. they're not commander in chief. and when i see the casualness with which some of these folks talk about war, i'm reminded of the costs involved in war. this is not a game.

there's nothing casual about it. and you know, when i see some of these folks who have a lot of bluster and a lot of big talk, they repeat the things they have been doing over the last three years. in the case to me, it's more about politics than actually trying to solve a difficult problem. >> i think there's no doubt that those who are suggesting or proposing or beating the drums of war should explain clearly to the american people what they think the costs and benefits would be. i'm not one of those people. because what i've said is that we have a window through which we can resolve this issue peacefully. this notion that somehow we have a choice to make in the next week or two weeks or month or two months is not born out by

the facts. >> all right, mark, tell me about white house strategy here. scheduling a 1:00 press conference on the day of super tuesday. >> they don't kid around at the white house. they know it's an election year. this is a very good performance. i agree with the president on the substance. he's commander in chief and the criticism when you start to pick at it looks to fade away. the republican nominee, whoever it is, is going to have to figure out how to run against a commander in chief who is thoughtful about what the policy options are and has boxed the republicans in politically on a lot of these issues, including iran. >> we also learned yesterday that vice president biden will hit the campaign trail in ernest, making a speech in ohio next week. mark halperin, see you in a few minutes on "morning joe." "game change" the movie based on halperin and heilemann's book premieres march 10th at 9:00 on hbo. tweet me and let me know what you're doing up or what you

think about last night's results. we'll read the best responses later on in the show. still ahead on "way too early," it is early, peyton manning, the quarterback who lifted the colts to relevance and a super bowl title over his 14 seasons will be released by indianapolis. why are they letting their franchise man go? and what's next for manning? that's all ahead in sports. rick santorum had a pretty good super tuesday but his young son standing to the right of the candidate in your frame here, was not quite as fired up as the crowd was. a yawning swell and a check on weather when "way too early" comes back. we're marching today to dramatize to the world that hundreds of thousands of negro agains of alabama denied the right to vote.

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5:45 in the morning as you look at a beautiful live picture of the united states capitol. let's get a check of the weather from meteorologist bill karins. good morning. >> today is the day we waited for. >> turning the corner? >> we turn the corner. >> all right. >> it's going to feel good. yesterday by the way, incredible warmth all the way to minneapolis with 60 degrees. chicago almost hit 70 yesterday. all that warm air is finally heading to the east where yesterday it was a chilly, windy day, especially in new england. all that warm air is heading our way. it's already in the mid to upper 30s. yesterday we had a wind chill in the single digits across from boston to buffalo. for today, this is lunch outdoor weather. 59, near 60 in new york, d.c., baltimore, hartford, everyone is getting into the mix, including buffalo and pittsburgh.

charlotte, raleigh, richmond, through the carolinas. we have a chance of rain late in the day. that won't be until late in the afternoon into the evening hours. most of the daylight hours are looking good. even the west coast is looking at some great weather out there. we've turn the corner. i'll probably look pretty good in my peyton manning jets jersey. >> you are not alone. let's show it right here. one of the jets players told the "new york daily news" we need to get him. >> sorry, mark sanchez. >> we turn to sports. the indianapolis colts will reportedly release peyton manning today. ending his 14-year tenure as quarterback in indianapolis. this is when chris mortensen on espn. he took the colts to the playoffs 11 times, won 7 afc south titles in eight years, won 2 afc championships, a super bowl and super bowl mvp award.

he didn't play it down last season. the 35-year-old would have been allowed a $28 million bonus had the colts decided not to let him go. he limped to a 2-14 season without manning under center, putting them in position to draft manning's successor. it could be qb andrew luck or the kid from baylor, the heisman winner, griffin. things seem amicable between jim irsay and his former quarterback as they drove off in the same car together after landing at an airport in indianapolis. >> we're good. we're good. we're going to talk tomorrow. we'll do it the right way tomorrow. there will be no shortage of suitors for manning. once he hits the free agent market. players around the league lobbying manning to sign with their teams. told you about the guy on the jets, also, terrence nighten of the jaguars, hey, peyton, we have great weather in jacksonville, #come on down.

darnell dock tweeted peyton to az. constituencien y en prince. why are we showing you this? harvard, yes, harvard is going to the big dance. the ncaa tournament for the first time since 1946, penn, if they had beaten princeton could have forced a one-game playoff for the ivy league title. the loss means the guys from cambridge will have more to celebrate come march than jeremy lin. this is harvard's moment, man. let's go to jeremy lin, in the third, down by 16. lin with the alley-oop to landry fields. the knicks and the mavericks. he had 14 points and 7 assists. knicks eventually take the lead on a 15-0 run in the fourth. with just over two minutes left, dirk nowitzki decides he's seen

enough. he had 28. mavs beat the knicks 95-85. lakers/pistons, kobe bryant ditches the clear face protector. look at this. the black one. fourth quarter, down two in the final seconds, kobe hits a fadeaway jumper. that sends the gym to overtime. in o.t., pistons don't back down. lakers lose to one of the worst teams in the league on the road in detroit, 88-85, the score. rick santorum and mitt romney divvy up ten republican caucuses and primaries last night with romney coming out on top but with no knockout blow and a close shave in ohio. we'll knock it around with our "morning joe" crew. when we come back, we'll huddle around the water cooler to watch stephen colbert hold a super tuesday cookout? we'll explain this one when we come back. [ female announcer ] the best things in life are the real things.

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if you're just waking up, mitt romney won a skin of his teeth victory in ohio last night, apparently anyway, taking 38% of the vote to rick santorum's 37% and winning six of the ten states up for grabs on super tuesday. republicans need ohio to land in their column in november.

according to the latest nbc poll, all four republican candidates trail the president by double digits in ohio. tell your friends no republican candidate has ever claimed the presidency without carrying ohio in the general election. john f. kennedy was able to win after losing ohio to richard nixon in 1960. enough with the real news. let's huddle up around the water cooler to hear rick santorum talk about jacking some steel in an ohio high school weight room before his super tuesday speech. he's speaking in the gym at steubenville high school last night. >> we're in steubenville, ohio. not too many presidential candidates come to steubenville, ohio, much less hold their victory party here in steubenville, ohio. we're in a high school gymnas m gymnasium. i just came from our war room which doubles as the weight room for the high school.

was pumping a little iran to get myself sike for coming out here. >> apparently he was. his campaign tweeted this photograph of the candidate pumping some iran before the speech with a suit and tie on. there was juan fellow on stage who could have used a little extra iron pumping. santorum's young son peter. he yawned at least 13 times during his father's 20-minute victory speech there in steubenville, ohio. cute little kid there. this does remind us of 7-year-old andrew giuliani. who could forget. we're going to let this roll, baby. just let it roll. that's andrew giuliani at 7 years old, acting up, falling asleep on the podium, yelling at people, pointing at people during his dad's first mayoral victory speech. that's rudolph giuliani, november 3rd, 199. 7-year-old andrew giuliani

barking at people and sleeping. this spawned, you might remember, one of the great chris farley sketches in the history of "snl." stephen colbert celebrated super tuesday with a tailgate and republican party dip. >> it is super tuesday. it is like the super bowl of politics, just like the super bowl, i have painted my face with the team colors. white. and i am having a little tailgate party here. first of all, i am cooking up some bratz for all of us. mmi i mm-mm. i am going to make some of my favorite ten-layer dip. we have potatoes for idaho, ham for virginia, some vermont cheddar for alaska, some venison and for ohio, a layer of rust. can't have a party without a batch of my famous republican

salsa. it's mostly mayonnaise. with a dash of miracle whip. of course i got a keg of beer back here and in case romney wins, i've got a keg of caffeine free diet coke. >> that sounds like a miserable tailgate party. as you know, we here at "way too early" are your headquarters for all things british royal. here's prince harry getting down on the dance floor yesterday in downtown kingston, jamaica. he was celebrating the queen's diamond jubilee. prince harry getting down. the 27-year-old. look at this. he's pulled into the crowd, dancing right there to bob marley's "one love." let's just say it, doing a pretty damn good job, don't you think? why are you awake? your too close to call, tweets, texts and e-mails. "morning joe" is just moments away. [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition?

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